Stanford Football: 3 reasons to watch 2018 Sun Bowl vs. Pittsburgh

One of the nation’s oldest bowl games welcomes Pitt and Stanford football to El Paso on New Year’s Eve. Here are three reasons to watch the Sun Bowl.

It has been 86 years since Stanford and Pittsburgh last met on the football field. They had previously met in 1922 and 1928, splitting the two games between them. In their 1932 rubber match, the Panthers scored the only points in a 7-0 shutout of the Cardinal.

After nearly a century of waiting to cross paths again, Pitt and Stanford finally meet again on the last day of 2018 in a game that did not yet exist when they last played. Given the fact that the Sun Bowl is tied with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl as the second-oldest bowl still in existence, that merely demonstrates just how long the Cardinal have had to wait for a shot at revenge.

To put it in perspective, Pop Warner was the coach of Stanford at the time and Jock Sutherland was patrolling the opposite sideline for Pittsburgh. Since that game, the Cardinal are on their 17th different head coach (18th if you count Bill Walsh’s two stints on the Farm as distinct) while Pitt has employed 20 men in the post full-time (with Johnny Majors getting two chances and four other guys serving in interim roles. One, Clark Shaughnessy, actually coached at both schools.

This time, it will be David Shaw and Pat Narduzzi leading Stanford and Pittsburgh on their encounter in El Paso. Here are three reasons why you definitely do not want to miss the 2018 Sun Bowl.